
The US Trade Minister Howard Lutnick on Sunday defended the inclusion of distant heard and McDonald’s Islands in sweeping the new President Donald Trump’s tariff plan, although the islands have no human population or US trade
Trump’s wide tariff sweeping includes islands where only penguins live
Last week, President Trump introduced an extensive tariff regime that includes a 10% basic tariff in all countries and mutual obligations aimed at reducing the US trading deficit with approximately 60 nations. However, the observers noticed that the list of public rates of the White House also included the islands of Heard and McDonald – the barren Australian territory in the South Indian Ocean, preferably known for its penguin populations and a complete lack of population or export.
CBS Grills Lutnick over “Penguin tariffs”
During an interview with CBS News, Lutnick was asked why they were focused on uninhabited islands without business activities.
“Why are Heard and McDonald’s islands that do not export to the United States and are literally inhabited by penguins, why do they face 10% of the tariff? Did you use this AI?” The CBS anchor asked.
Lutnick firmly denied the use of artificial intelligence in designing a tariff list and replied:
“No. No, thought – look, the idea is that there are no countries that are not omitted.”
Do not leave any gaps for trade fraudsters, says Lutnick
Lutnick claimed that leaving any territory from the list would open a door to the trade in handling other countries, especially China.
“If you leave something from the list, a country that basically tries to pass the referee America through these countries, to us,” he said.
He quoted the previous countries of countries to circumvent American tariffs by redirecting exports to third countries.
“The president knows he’s tired and he’ll fix it,” Lutnick added.
CBS pushed secretaries of the credibility of routing goods through a desolate, ice islands in sub-antarctica.
“Through the heard of the islands?” The anchor asked.
But Lutnick held firmly: “These ridiculous gaps. And now he’s trying to say that I will correct the business deficit of the United States of America. It’s a National Security problem.”
“Building America in America”
Lutnick ended in a wider message of self -contain and economic patriotism.
“We have to make a medicine. We have to make semiconductors. We have to make boats. We have to have steel and aluminum. Well, we need the size of America to actually be built in America,” he said.
“He’s tired of pulling the rest of the world.”
(Tagstotranslate) Howard Lutnick (T) Donald Trump (T) US Trade Minister Howard Lutnick (T) Howard Lutnick on Penguins (T) Heard and McDonald Islands (T) Tariffs to Hearing and McDonald Islands (T) US Triffs on Islands